Brewing within the north Georgia mountains is a small tea shop, but My Vintage Gyspy Teas is more than just that.
After a 10 year career in nursing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kim Pyron moved to Dahlonega in order to start a magick tea store. The word magick with a k was coined by Aleister Crowley and defined in his book Magick in Theory and Practice as “The Science of causing change to occur in conformity with will.”
Pyron opened her store to help people interested in metaphysics and bettering their body, mind, and soul. Her shop is filled to the brim with mugs, tea and magickal makings.
Pyron was raised by her father, a practicing physician, and her mother, a nurse. Pyron also became a nurse, and her interest in tea started as an extension trying to help patients. Being a caretaker is something that has been a part of who Pyron is her whole life. “I believe once you’re a nurse, you’re always a nurse,” she says.
Pyron offers a monthly subscription for her teas and candles. She also has a Teacup Club for students who want to pay less for a great drink. University of North Georgia students are also eligible for discounts on all store items every Tuesday.
She believes that tea doesn’t only aid in wellness but is also a meditative practice anyone can do. “Boil the water. You steep the tea. You have to sit and be, and so, making a cup of tea is very ritualistic when you look at it in that way,” Pyron says, “and in doing that, you step back and away from the mundane. And allow yourself to get into a more calm spiritual connected space. And then you get to have a cup of tea at the end.”
She started her tea craft 15 years ago at a metaphysical shop called Forever and a Day in Woodstock before moving to the mountains to pursue her own. In the past two years of owning her own brick and mortar store, Pyron has doubled the size of their space twice and continues to grow. “Our online business continues to grow, but I would like to step into a bigger place if one presents itself and becomes available that makes sense,” Pyron says.
Finding work and personal balance is one of the biggest challenges “cause I have a tendency to overwork,” Pyron says.
At the end of the day, when the shop doors are closed and locked up for the night, she says there’s one thing that makes it all worth it, “Every time I see someone take a sip of my tea or my hot chocolate, and I see their smile. It just brings me so much- I can’t even describe how fulfilling, how all the hard work that I do in that one split second of the corners of their mouth turning up… that’s it. That shows me it’s worth it all.”
“You can tell me all day long how this tastes good,” Pyron continues, “but to see somebody smile and they do it everyday. It’s the happiest memory, and it happens all the time.”
